critical thinking

Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have chosen Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals as the summer reading book for their incoming freshman for 2011. Rarely would summer reading for a college’s new students be newsworthy, but this one is. For a book that so carefully and comprehensively uncovers animal agriculture … Continue reading →

For my blog post today, I’m sharing an essay I wrote that was published on Common Dreams.org, a progressive news site. Here’s a short excerpt: “In college a friend in medical school told me that he thought that medicine was the most noble profession. It was a strange statement, really, and quite provocative. I wondered … Continue reading →

In order to make anything a reality, you have to dream about it first! The goal is not to turn kids into your kinds of adults, but rather better adults than you have been! – Adora Svitak, 13 years old writer, poet and humanitarian speaking to adult audience at TED 2010 Editor’s note: Ever since I joined … Continue reading →

An educational reformer whom I admire very much was kind enough to watch my TEDx talk, “The World Becomes What You Teach,” and provide feedback. While he enjoyed the talk, he had one quibble with it. I had suggested that instead of debate teams in schools (in which students are arbitrarily assigned one side or … Continue reading →

I wanted to share an essay I wrote that was published on Common Dreams.org, a progressive news site. Here’s a short excerpt: “Rather than offer unconnected academic disciplines, imagine if each year of high school covered a single overarching issue, such as Sustenance, Energy, Production, or Protection. Teachers with expertise in different subjects could provide … Continue reading →

Time to Read and Write–and Discuss My fourth grade literacy group right now contains many kids I have not worked with a lot in the past, because our teachers differentiate well students’ levels in literacy. I work with a core group of kids 4 days a week and others who only come in for the … Continue reading →

Education teaches us that our native abilities for learning are inadequate, that they must be developed and improved upon by submitting to or even seeking out pedagogical management of some sort. ~ Aaron Falbel, a free-lance writer, editor, philosopher, and musician I was recently introduced to Aaron Falbel, who had the great privilege to have known and be … Continue reading →

“I have never let school interfere with my education.” -Mark Twain This is a guest post written by Dale J. Stephens, an unschooler and founder of UnCollege — a self-directed learning higher education alternative.I had an opportunity to meet Dale through Twitter and since then had got to know him better through our email and Skype … Continue reading →

Since my TEDx talk was released, I have been receiving lots of emails from people wanting to learn how to implement the ideas I shared. I’ve also been hearing from humane educators and groups doing fantastic work across the globe. For my next several blog posts, I wanted to share some of their great work. … Continue reading →

Check out this TEDx talk by Sam Richards, a sociology professor and co-director of Race Relations at Penn State: At the Institute for Humane Education, we identify four elements as key to providing quality humane education. They include: Providing accurate information about pressing issues and challenges of our time. Fostering the 3 Cs of curiosity, … Continue reading →

This is my very first post on the Cooperative Catalyst. I was up all last night thinking about it. Eyes wide open, always alert. I admit it — I was nervous. Will they like me? Will my writing speak to the valued co-op reader? These thoughts consistently traveled through my mind and never quite settled down … Continue reading →

The movie, Waiting for Superman, finally came to rural Maine, and I so I finally got to see it. There is so much in it that is so important and so true. For example: It is a travesty that so many of our children are not learning the basics and are not verbally, mathematically or … Continue reading →

I recently posted my thoughts on Schooling the World, an important film that takes a look at the value of bringing Western-style education to sustainable indigenous cultures and beyond. I personally — and as I mentioned in my post, it seems Sir Ken Robinson too — believe the film raises many important questions which are … Continue reading →

I posted this 3 months ago on my personal blog — My bin of thoughts. In a discussion with this group it came up that while quite a few posts have been written on the Cooperative Catalyst for Waiting for Superman, no one have yet posted anything about Schooling the World. I believe that this … Continue reading →

I’m delighted to share my TEDxDirigo talk, The World Becomes What You Teach: If you enjoy it and think it’s valuable, please share it with others so that together we can educate a generation of solutionaries. I welcome your comments as well. Zoe Weil, President of the Institute for Humane Education